Battle of Cobus Division
The Battle of Cobus Division (Danish: Slaget ved Cobus Division) '(June 2nd, 1978 - August 9th) was a 2-month-long military engagement in which the the People's Army of Contrastan blockaded Danish supply ships, then engaged the Danish Armed Forces in a land battle. Prime Minister Anker Jørgensen and Nicholas Remmen then negotiated a temporary ceasefire that took place from July 29th until August 2nd, in which Danish troops reported artillery shells being fired into the sky. In between, the two leaders were working together for a peace deal, but talks ultimately failed after Remmen brought up the subject of independence. Fighting resumed until August 9th, when, after a Contrastani offensive that saw roughly 1000 Danish troops killed or wounded (83% of the remaining Danish force), the second-in-command officer, ''Brigadegeneral Malthe Søgaard, surrendered, thereby ending the battle. '''Background After the disastrous Candos Region offensive by the Danish Armed Forces, which saw around 200 Danish troops wounded or killed, on May 4th Majorgeneral Henrik Madsen declared that the remaining 1600 Danish troops be moved to the coast for supplies to easily reach the trapped troops. He chose the strategic location of Cobus Division as the enclosed bay allowed for supply ships to be safe and surrounded by friendly forces. In a two-week long march, the exhausted troops made their way to the village in Cobus Division. Then, they dug themselves in and took control of the small dock used by fishermen of the village. The date is disputed but historians generally agree that by May 19th, the Danish forces were properly ready. Prelude At 8:30 PM EGT (East Greenland Time), on May 21th, two Contrastani Air Force Mig-23MF aircraft flew low over Cobus Division under orders from the Candos Region offensive leader, a colonel named Jonathan Respik. Respik had had his forces survey the Candos area, and had found no sign of the Danish. He suspected that forces must haved moved to the shoreline in an attempt to escape quickly. The planes quickly swooped over the small village. A small boy playing outside later recalled, "I heard this huge rumbling, and then I whipped my head around and saw a pair of Contras Contrastanis flying over my head." The two pilots quickly saw the Danish encampment, turned around, and left promptly. Nicholas Remmen and his advisors were notified at around two hours after the sighting. An advisor remembers, "He was jumping round' like mad. He was just so pleased to have finally caught the enemy and have trapped them. What's more, he liked the fact that they were at his mercy, after years of facing punishment from them for his little 'rebellion'." Remmen immediately ordered military officers to plot out a plan to capture Cobus Division and expel the Danish from Contrastan. The Danish troops had no idea that the Contrastani Air Force had just spotted them. At the moment, they were busy preparing themselves for both a quick escape and a last stand. Madsen had ordered ships to keep supplying the troops until June 6th, which was when he believed that all troops would be able to be evacuated. However, the Defence Department in Copenhagen only extended shipments until May 29th, urging him to quickly evacuate and citing that if he evacuated quickly, he could avoid a possible attack. The process began at a slow trickle, with the first troops leaving for Denmark on May 26th. Events preceding the attack On May 25th, after strenuous planning by Commander Norman Ayers, a plan was set forth for the capture of Cobus Division. Ayers planned to cut off the Danish supply and escape route through Atlantic Ocean with ships, then defeat the Danish in a pincer movement which, in the north, would go through the newly-captured Russius Major region, and in the south, would travel through the Green Woods forest. The plan would be spearheaded in the north by armored tanks units thanks to a lack of trees, and in the south, would be mainly made up of infantry. The plan was for approaching tanks to chase the Danish towards the forest, then the infantry would cut down the Danish, who would, by then, would be disorganized. The start date of this operation was set for May 31st, with ships leaving on the 27th. This plan was personally approved by Nicholas Remmen himself on May 26th. On the morning of May 27th, on the orders from Ayers, five destroyers ships and one cruiser ship left from the military port named Area 1-2. Ayers was reported to, when briefing the ship commanders, have said, "If they attempt to escape, sink them. Give them no mercy." The ships, newly built, the ship title began with CPS - C'ontrastani '''P'eople's 'S'hips. The departing destroyer ships were as follows: -CPS Sprint -CPS Lightning -CPS Breeze -CPS Wave-rider -CPS Speed The cruiser was named the CPS Endurance. On May 28th, Madsen received a call from the Danish Defence Department. In this call, the Department ordered Madsen to leave Contrastan as soon as possible on the next ship, and told him to evacuate quickly. Obeying these orders, Madsen left the second highest-ranking officer, Brigadier Malthe Søgaard, in charge of the evacuation. At approximately 8:00 PM EGT, Madsen boarded a supply ship named the HMS Søhest, which left the dock at around 8:30 PM EGT. The ship traveled at a relative speed of 8 knots per hour (15 km per hour). It was a clear, moonlit sky with calm waves. Madsen told the crew he would go to bed at 10:30 PM. He said: "Tell me if anything happens." At around 11:30 PM EGT, around 46 kilometres (28 miles) off the Contrastani coast, the crew spotted six objects to the starboard side of the ship, on the horizon. As future research indicates, these ships were actually the Contrastan naval patrol sent out on May 27th as per the plan of Ayers. These ships had spotted the Søhest as well, and in the following minutes a radio transmission was sent out to the crew. The following radio exchange is now a transcript here: '''CPS ENDURANCE: This the CPS Endurance here. Please state your ship's allegiance and name. SØHEST CREW: This is the HMS Søhest, Danish, Royal Danish Navy. CPS ENDURANCE: Where is your departure location? SØHEST CREW: We'd rather not disclose that location. CPS ENDURANCE: I repeat. What is your departure location? SØHEST CREW: Again, we'd rather not disclose that location. CPS ENDURANCE: Drop anchor. Immediately. We will have to identify your location forcibly. By now, Madsen was awake and in the control room with the crew. He was told of the transmission by the crew. Madsen decided to disobey this order and told the crew to accelerate to top speed, intending to avoid a possible encounter. On the bridge of the CPS Endurance, the officers notified the commanding officer, Captain Terry Hopkins, who, remembering Ayers' briefing on this matter, decided to attack the ship. He ordered the Endurance's crew to ready torpedoes to destroy the ship. At around 12:00 AM EGT, three Mark 48 torpedoes were fired at the Søhest. Two found their mark in the rudder area and starboard side, breaching the hull, and one missed and sank. With the ship sinking quickly, Madsen ordered the lifeboats prepared, but the ship sank quickly - in around 15 minutes. Madsen was not among the 17 survivors. On the morning of May 29th, the Danish Government was notified of the sinking, and sent out a search patrol to find the lifeboats and bodies, along with assistance from Iceland. When Remmen was notified of the sinking, and subsequently, Madsen's death, he was reported to have simply said, "We hit them where it hurts."